Buff orpington hen attacking my kids

[Beakadoodle]

Have these birds been hand fed?
Is the attack happening during a certain activity or just out of the blue?

The kids help fill their feeders and do feed them out of their hands from time to time. But when she has been attacking it seems to have no rhyme or reason.

 

[LizzzyJo]

My buff orp was also aggressive. Eat her or sell her. $5 on Craigslist should do it quickly. If a bird of mine makes an aggressive mark on a kid (which has happened) I immediately consider that the chicken exit ticket. “Thanks for playing! You’ve lost. Game over.”

 

[Saveria]

They have been very well cared for and we even noticed how much more friendly and cuddly the buffs have been compared to our other chickens when they were little. So the sudden change in behavior has thrown us for a loop. My older son has done a good job of standing his ground with her. But because my daughter has gotten nailed so hard by her before, she tends to show fear. I also noticed when she does try to stand her ground with the hen, the hen gets even more aggressive. I was hoping we could do some behaviour modification or possibly she might chill after she starts laying.

If she was handled a lot as a chick she may have started seeing you all birds instead of humans that deserve respect. I would try the cage for a week, and then it is "one strike you're out". Violent chickens can cause blindness since they have instincts to attack the eyes.

It is hard, though. Once a chicken has been violent, how can you ever completely trust them again? Maybe rehoming to somewhere that has no kids would be the best option.

 

[Amelise]

Maybe she's a late blooming rooster (i'm thinking because of no laying or crouching yet?). Keep an eye on her to see if she grows any pointy feathers.

 

[Lspears218]

We have added three chickens to our flock this year. Two Buff Orpingtons and one Silver Laced Wyandotte. They are at the 20 or so week mark and have integrated with our older flock of six. Only the Wyandotte has started laying. Over the last couple weeks one of our Buffs has started attacking my kids quite aggressively. Even breaking the skin. She mainly goes after my 9 year old daughter and 12 year old son. My older son she leaves alone, and up until today, I have had no issues either. She got my daughter good today and when we layer went to the run to observe, I intervened to keep her from pecking and she came at me! She fluffed her feathers and sounded like she was growling! I have never had a people aggressive hen and I'm so disappointed. We got the buffs because of what I'd read about their wonderful temperament. I'm at a loss of what to do. But my kids adore their chickens and now they are scared and don't want to be around them for fear of getting attacked.


Side note: My kids are well behaved around the chickens and not harassing them in any way.
I had told the kids to peck back at her and gently hold her down if she went in to attack mode. Hoping it would establish pecking order if that's what it is.

I'm going to insert a picture of "Bertha" I thought possibly she could be a Roo, but both buffs look the same to me. There are two pictures. One by herself and the other next to our other buff for comparison. Bertha is on the right.

If anyone has any helpful suggestions or insight, I would greatly appreciate it.

Unfortunately I had to get rid of an Easter egger due to the exact same situation. It’s one thing if they attack the adults, but with the young kids it won’t stop because they typically don’t stand their ground as well (which they should never have to do in the first place) , but I find if we spend 30 minutes as a family with the flock every evening giving each hen a little individual attention it has helped a ton.